Whistling sound coming from the loft

[darrenl73]

Hello - these past two nights, we have been woken up around 5am with this ear piercing whistling noise coming from our loft. The noise is the loudest in the bathroom, close to the sink but not coming from the sink itself it's definitely coming from the loft.

The first night I was able to stop the noise quickly by switching the central heating on. But this morning when it happened turning the heating on didn't have the same effect. I had to run the hot and cold tap in the bathroom and have the heating on and then the noise subsided quickly.

We've been in this house since April last year and not experienced this before, so any ideas what could be causing it? The hot water comes on around 2.30am and goes off around 4.30am, so is it a coincidence that the whistling noise starts around 30 mins after the water is switched off? Anything to do with the cold weather? The loft roof isn't insulated.

Thanks in anticipation of a reply!

 

[JohnD]

have a look in the loft. I suspect it is something to do with plumbing up there.

see if there are any water tanks up there.

You might have one big one and one small one.

If you do, they will have ball cocks in them (like you find in a WC cistern)

Press the floats down slightly so they feed water and release. See if it makes a noise.

Observe if either of then has a water level near the overflow, as if it is overfilled.

It might be useful if you say how the water is heated, by electricity ot boiler, and what sort, and if you have a cylinder.

Is there a reason why you turn on the water heating in the early hours?

If you can get someone to turn the boiler on while you are up there, see if you notice anything interesting happening.

 

[darrenl73]

Hi there - thanks for the reply. We do have 2 tanks in the loft, one big and one small. I'll get up in there later today and follow your instructions.

The water is heated by a gas boiler in our kitchen - a Potterton Suprima. We heat the water in the early hours so it's hot when we need a shower first thing. It's not a combi boiler so we heat the water twice a day. I assumed that was correct but happy to be told otherwise!

 

[solo]

I've heard cases of stray Bryan Ferry's in lofts performing versions of " Jealous Guy". Identify if this is the case and if so set appropriate traps or just shoot on sight.

 

[thebathroomdoctor]

May be an unexpected intruder making themselves a cuppa with an old style kettle?
Well, it might...

 

[doitall]

Look for an plastic ballvalve, including the wc and change it.